जम्बुद्वीपस्य कोणेऽस्मिन् वर्षे भारतनामनि । ससर्ज जनसर्गौघं ह्याधिव्याधिपरिप्लुतम् ॥ १५ ॥
jambudvīpasya kōṇē’smin varṣē bhāratanāmani | sasarja janasargaughaṁ hyādhivyādhipariplutam || 15 ||
Translation
In this corner of Jambudvīpa, in the land called Bhārata, he created the mass of humankind, flooded with sorrows of mind and body.
Word by word
- jambudvīpasya
- of Jambudvīpa
- kōṇē
- in the corner
- asmin
- in this
- varṣē
- in the land
- bhārata
- Bhārata
- nāmani
- called
- sasarja
- he created
- jana
- of humankind
- sarga
- the creation
- ōghaṁ
- mass
- hi
- indeed
- ādhi
- with sorrows of the mind
- vyādhi
- and of the body
- pariplutam
- flooded
Meaning
From the whole cosmos the view narrows suddenly to a corner, and to us. Ādhi is pain of the mind, vyādhi pain of the body, a pair of words that sounds nearly alike in Sanskrit, as if the two were one thing, which they often are. Pariplutam, flooded: they are not visited by sorrow now and then, they are soaked in it. It is an unsentimental description of the human condition, and the rest of the sarga depends on it. Nothing further is said in support of it. Vasiṣṭha assumes that Rāma, having spent the Vairāgya Prakaraṇa saying just this, needs no argument.